Comfort bottle



Dec. 5, 1939.

L. B. FARRELL CQMFORT BOTTLE Filed Aug. 22, 1938 M; 5 a W ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 5, 1939 D STATES ATENT QFFHQE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to sanitary appliances and particularly comfort bottles for use by invalids, children and those confined in vehicles, beds, berths or other places where it'is inconvenient to use bed pans or the like and where the user of the article desires to remain in location without traveling to remote toilets or similar places.

- One of the important aims of this invention is to provide a comfort bottle of the character which may be easily carried and which may be sealed after use, through the employment of a suitable stopper, said comfort bottle being formed for complete convenient placement and having as a part thereof, suitably contoured flap members in the nature of an apron and a flap which snugly engage the body so that leakage is precluded during the use of the bottle. i

It is well known in this art that satisfactory comfort articles in the nature of that embodying this invention must be quickly adapted and made readily accessible or the value thereof is greatly diminished. It has also been found in the development of this invention that the use of flexi- 25 ble material such as rubber, when formed into satisfactory parts, will be self-adhering and will serve to seal the open end of the bottle against leakage if it is properly held against the body at the crotch thereof.

30 lm'nor and important objects of this invention include the provision of a flexible, hollow body of flexible material, the open end of which is specially formed with a circumscribing skirt that extends upwardly and outwardly and which has as 35 an integral part thereof an apron made to fit the lower part of the abdomen and the body in the region of the pelvic bone and a flap formed to snugly adhere to the caudal end of the spine or near the coccyx portion thereof so that when 40 the bottle depends between the legs of the user,

it will be in perfect position for use and definitely sealed against leakage.

Many minor objects of the invention will appear during the course of the following specification, referring to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the upper portion of a comfort bottle made to embody the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the comfort bottle, and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, cross sectional view through a portion of the bottle taken on line III-III of Fig. 2.

The hollow body 6 of the bottle embodying my (Cl. 41l0) invention is preferably made of some flexible material such as rubber and this said body 6 is in the nature of the well known hot water bottle commercially sold with a stopper that screw-threads into the passage 8 formed through 5 neck It] in a well known manner. The stopper is not illustrated in the accompanying drawing and the same is so well known that further reference thereto need only casually be made.

Neck H] has an upwardly and outwardly ex- 10 tending flared skirt I2 which, if it were not for the hereinafter mentioned apron and flap would completely circumscribe the upper or outer .end of neck I!) around opening 8. This flared skirt is integral with neck I0 and formed of material the same as that from which body 6 is created.

It is, however, thin enough to yield when the article is put in use as will hereinafter be more fully set down.

Body 6 is flat in nature and the major transverse axis through body 6 is on a plane which intersects the specially formed apron i4 and the specially created flap l6. Apron l4 and flap I6 are diametrically opposed and said apron extends outwardly and upwardly from a portion of skirt 5 I2. A loop l8 should be provided on the free edge of apron M so that the user might have means for gripping and holding the bottle in place. It is important that apron M be initially moulded to present a concave surface 20 which directly engages the pelvic portion of the body or the lower portion of the abdomen when the bottle is hung in the crotch. This surface, therefore, should be great enough in area to frictionally grip the aforesaid portion of the body and the combined length of the portions of apron H! on each side of the extended plane of the major axis of body 6 is greater than the distance from the point of attachment of apron M to skirt l2 and the attached end of loop I8. Flap I6 is likewise provided with an inner concave face 22 which grips the caudal end of the spine or the body adjacent thereto, depending upon the size of the person using the device. The length of flap it will determine the manner in which its inner surface 22 will adhere to the body but its nature is such as to create a satisfactory amount of adhesion between the inner surface 22 thereof and the surface of the body between the end of the spine and the crotch.

Disposing the apron I4 and flap 16 so that body 6 depends there-below in the manner shown in Fig. 1 is important for the legs of the user need not be spread apart to an uncomfortable degree when the bottle is in use. A grip 24 is provided at the free edge of flap l6 and when the hands of the user engage grips I8 and 24, the inner surfaces of flared skirt l2, apron l4 and flap I6 may be pulled against the body asclaimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A comfort bottle of the character described comprising .a hollow flat body of flexible material having a tubular neck at one end thereof; an upwardly and outwardly extending flared, annular skirt of flexible material integral with the said neck and circumscribing the opening therein; an apron integral with the flared skirt, extending outwardly from a portion of the free edge thereof; and a flap integral with said skirt, extending outwardly from another portion of the free edge thereof, said apron and said flap being extended from diametrically opposite portions of the annular skirt and projecting to each side of the extended plane of the major transverse axis of the said hollow body, said flap and said apron each being substantially dish-shaped and formed to present a concave face adapted to lie against and frictionally engage the body when the bottle is in use as described.

2. A comfortbottle of the character described comprising a hollow flat body of flexible material having a tubular neck at one end thereof; an upwardly and outwardly extending flared, annular skirt of flexible material integral with the said neck and circumscribing the opening therein; an apron integral with the flared skirt, extending outwardly from a portion of the free edge thereof; and a flap integral with said skirt, extending outwardly from another portion of the free edge thereof, said flap and said apron each being substantially dish-shaped and formed to present a concave face adapted to lie against and frictionally engage the body when the bottle is, in use as described, said flap and said apron each having a finger-receiving loop on the edge thereof remote from their points of connection with the free edge of the skirt.

3. A comfort bottle of the character described comprising a hollow body of flexible material having a tubular neck at one end thereof; an upwardly and outwardly extending annular skirt of flexible material integral with the said neck and circumscribing the neck to form a continuation of the opening therein; a disk-shaped apron formed by an outwardly and-upwardly disposed extension of the skirt; a disk-shaped flap formed by another outwardly and upwardly disposed extension of the skirt; and a loop on the outermost portion of the apron and flap respectively, said disk-shaped apron being greater in diameter than the annular skirt or the flap and having a concave face adapted to lie against the pelvic portion of the body of the wearer, said disk.- shaped flap being greater in diameter than the annular skirt and smaller in diameter than the said apron and having a concave face adapted to lie against the body of the wearer at the caudal end of the spine, said apron being joined to the outer edge of the annulariskirt along a portion thereof diametrically opposite to the flap whereby a space on each side of the annular skirt and betweenthe apron and flap is provided for the reception of the legs of the wearer when the bottle is inthe operative position.

LURA B. FARRELL. 

